Posset
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A beverage composed of hot milk curdled by some strong infusion, such as wine.
"I have drugged their possets."
- 2 sweet spiced hot milk curdled with ale or beer wordnet
- 3 A baby's vomit, comprising curdled milk.
"Some people will tell you that this position may allow inhalation of posset, but there is no evidence to support this."
- 4 A pudding-like food composed of cream, sugar, and other flavoring, such as lemon.
"LEMON POSSET / WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS : The classic English dessert lemon posset transforms cream, sugar, and lemon into a lush pudding with clean citrus flavor. It is the easiest dessert you've never made.[…]"
- 1 To curdle; to turn, as milk; to coagulate. obsolete
"to posset the blood"
- 2 To treat with possets; to pamper.
"Nevertheless, as she laid him in bed and posseted him, how frail and fragile he looked!"
- 3 To vomit up curdled milk.
"Some babies never posset at all. Others do so with surprising ease, and this can be quite a cause of concern to parents."
Example
More examples"Some people will tell you that this position may allow inhalation of posset, but there is no evidence to support this."
Etymology
From Middle English posset, possot, possate, poshet, posthot, of unclear origin. Perhaps from Welsh posel. A connection to Latin pōsca (medieval/dialectal poscada) has also been suggested.
Related phrases
More for "posset"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.